Free range chickens are seen at the Bakerview Ecodairy in Abbortsford, B.C. Monday, March 28, 2011. The chickens are not kept in cages and get a diet of flaxseeds and tuna oils. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward

After kicking off a new round of cross-country consultations in Quebec earlier this month and wending his way through the prairies last week, Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay takes his Growing Canadian Agriculture campaign to British Columbia, where he’ll join Fraser Canyon MP Jati Sidhu for a series of meetings with “farmers and agri-businesses” to, as the advisory puts it, “hear their ideas on how to capture growth opportunities for the sector.”

On the agenda today: A noon-hour visit to the Bakerview EcoDairy in Abbotsford, where the minister and his caucus colleague will join local 4-H Club members on a tour of the facility, which is operated in conjunction with Science World and bills itself as a “one-of-a-kind demonstration farm which aims to inspire the next generation of agriculture advocates.”

Also out and about on the western circuit today: Status of Women Minister Maryam Monsef teams up with Winnipeg MPs Robert Falcon-Ouellette and Terry Duguid to unveil new federal funds to promote “women’s economic security” throughout the region.

Meanwhile, Employment Minister Patricia Hajdu will once again be making the round in her home riding of Thunder Bay, where she’ll drop by the waterfront site for the new Thunder Bay Art Gallery and Canadian Heritage Minister Melanie Joly continues her mini-tour of the Gaspesie by meeting with “various stakeholders” from both the arts and cultural and local Anglophone communities in Matane.

Finally, Social Development Minister Jean-Yves Duclos will lead Canada’s official delegation to the UN High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development, which is set to take place in New York City this week, and will include, among other events, the presentation of Canada’s “progress to date on the 2030 agenda.”

ON & AROUND THE HILL

Statistics Canada releases the latest data from its monthly survey on manufacturing.

AT COMMITTEE

As both the House and Senate have risen for the season, there are no scheduled committee meetings today.